The Capture
The Capture is the fifth scenario in The Sword of Frost, the eighth part of Heroes Chronicles. Tarnum and his troops moved fast to catch up to Gelu, but Gelu's friend Ufretin prepared an ambush and caught them unaware. After nearly crippling Tarnum's army, Ufretin pulled back and gave him the opportunity to surrender. Instead, Tarnum decided to dig in and rebuild his forces. When a messenger demanded his surrender, Tarnum broke the man's jaw and told him that his boss should make sure he was dead next time, because he would never give up. Tarnum reflected on how good it felt to shatter the man's jaw with his knuckles, and how frightening that realization was. Neez and Kilkik, Tarnum's beholder advisors, brought some troglodytes before him and told him they'd lost 2100 gold they were supposed to transport from one of his mines. A group of elves had stolen it while they slept. Tarnum knew that in Nighon, the penalty for a mistake like that was death, but since he didn't want to kill them, he told them that he'd seen in a dream that if he killed any of his troops that day, he'd die in his next battle. He hoped they would take it as another sign of his supposed insanity, but the look on Neez's face told him he wouldn't get away with it. So he sent the troglodytes out on their own to capture Ufretin, and sent Neez along to make sure they accomplished their mission or died trying - most likely the latter. One morning, Kilkik came into Tarnum's tent with a menacing look on his face to tell him that the troglodytes had been ambushed by elves - the troglodytes were dead, as was Neez. Tarnum told him that he'd hired a new bodyguard: Trongar, a massive black minotaur king. Kilkik realized that Tarnum was twice as powerful as before. When the beholder left the tent, Tarnum thanked Trongar for arranging the ambush, and asked whether the medusas had used elven arrows. Trongar confirmed that they had, and that they were grateful for this chance to get on his good side. Tarnum could feel his guts twisting with shame when he thought about how easy this treachery was for him. With the power of his army, Tarnum defeated Ufretin's forces and captured the dwarf. Walkthrough Tarnum and his two strongest heroes from the previous scenario start with a Dungeon in the center of the map. There is an azure dragon in the Dungeon, and Tarnum has two Frozen Cliffs, one to the northwest and one to the southeast. The enemy ranger Ufretin has four Ramparts, one in each corner, and two Crystal Caverns that will allow him to hire crystal dragons. The Ramparts to the northeast and southwest can be attacked right away, while the ones to the southeast and northwest are protected behind green and light blue border gates, respectively. The green keymaster's tent is behind the light blue gate, blocked by a quest guard that only Tarnum can open, while there's a light blue tent east of the Dungeon. The enemy also has access to a blue tent, allowing them to attack from the northwestern Rampart, but they can't leave the southeastern one. After taking care of the two gateless Ramparts and visiting the tent, Tarnum can deal with the northwestern one. After opening the quest guard, he can head southeast and fight Ufretin in his last Rampart. Towns * One Dungeon * Four Ramparts Strategy By building a Portal of Summoning in his Dungeon, Tarnum can hire another azure dragon in addition to the ones found at the Frozen Cliffs. This will give him three azure dragons per week, if he can afford them. Note that capturing dwellings will make it less likely to get azure dragons from the portal. There are two seer's huts on the map. The one on the northern shore will give 30 crystal for 40 grand elves, while the one to the east, near the light blue tent, will give 40 mercury for the Sword of Hellfire. The Sword can be found to the south, guarded by green and gold dragons. Category:The Sword of Frost scenarios